The End of the Semester and Holidays Are Fast Approaching |
I want to wish our students all the best of luck with their upcoming end-of-semester examinations. I also want to wish each of you a happy holiday season and upcoming new year. I'd encourage you to take the time you need to rejuvenate over the winter break. It has been a challenging semester and I’m certain everyone needs time with their friends, family and animals to be ready for the spring semester.
As the university has communicated to all employees, each of us will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or receive a medical or religious exemption by January 4, 2022. As of this message, we have approximately 70 employees, including student employees, who do not have a vaccination of record with University Health Services or a medical or religious exemption. If you are among this group, I’d strongly encourage you to become vaccinated or initiate the process of being granted an exemption.
We successfully submitted our self-study a week ago in preparation for our AVMA Council on Education site visit. I'm looking forward to meeting with the site visit team January 23-27. We will show them all of the excellent things we do in the teaching and learning we provide to our students, the research that we conduct to benefit both animal and human health, and the clinical care we provide to patients in our hospital. More information about the site visit and details of that week will be forthcoming in early January.
As we look ahead to 2022, mark your calendar for the university's annual Showcase event on March 8 and please consider creating a poster for this event. If you have implemented an improvement, innovation or best practice over the past year – something I know we have in abundance at the SVM – you're invited to share your success. Proposals are due January 25.
Have a great rest of your semester and a fantastic holiday season and new year.
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UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director |
Welcome to Ayla Rae Hebl, a pharmacy technician, and Stefanie Hougan, a certified veterinary technician with Neurology. And congratulations to Stacey Butler, who has transitioned to a new role as a financial specialist in the hospital purchasing office.
Congratulations to Sara Branton, Karrie Mazurkiewicz and Nicole Schramka in successfully passing the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Anesthesia and Analgesia (AVTAA) certifying examination in Anesthesia/Analgesia and becoming Veterinary Technician Specialists (VTS). All AVTAA technician candidates must submit an application with 8,000 hrs as a CVT, 6,000 hrs of anesthesia experience, 40 hrs of continuing education, submit 50 case logs, complete a skills list, submit four case reports, and two letters of recommendation from a boarded veterinarian or VTS technician. If the application is accepted, the technician must then pass the qualifying exam to be accepted in the academy. Well done Sara, Karrie and Nicole!
Friendly, kind, caring, compassionate and knowledgeable are some of the words the below client of Medical Oncology used to describe the clinicians, students and staff she interacted with during a recent visit. I know the same can be said for all of the talented, dedicated teams across each and every one of the hospital's service areas. Thank you!
"The only thing that could be done better is to add a satisfaction rating of 11 for AMAZING because that is what I truly wanted to rate every question but since it unfortunately wasn't an option I had to rate everything only a 10 instead!!! :)" -Kimberly
Christopher Snyder, DVM, DAVDC
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs
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David Brunson, a veterinary anesthesiologist formerly with the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, anesthetizes an avian patient of UW Veterinary Care. Brunson frequently worked with zoos and other facilities to anesthetize wild and exotic animals for veterinary medical care – expertise that our clinicians continue to deliver today, for example in the case of a cockatoo named Bogey from a Tennessee sanctuary (see below).
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COVID updates: As stated above by Dean Markel, UW–Madison has announced that all campus employees must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination no later than Jan. 4, 2022, in compliance with a federal order. Vaccination appointments can be made through MyUHS. Also, UW–Madison’s requirement that masks be worn in indoor spaces is being extended to Jan. 15. For more, visit covidresponse.wisc.edu.
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Attention holiday shoppers: The School of Veterinary Medicine's annual holiday cards are the perfect gift for animal lovers on your list. Recipients will enjoy beautiful, original artwork and you will support our school, hospital and students in their honor. Our 2021 holiday cards feature two designs from one of our own faculty members, Professor Dörte Döpfer! Order by Dec. 13 to ensure pre-holiday delivery.
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Read all about it: The winter issue of On Call magazine is now available online. Due to a global paper shortage affecting the printing industry, the paper magazine is delayed; delivery is currently anticipated in late December. In the meantime, enjoy the magazine online. We highlight the future made possible through our building expansion and renovation, spotlight collaborative work to uncover new insights into chronic wasting disease and other emerging threats to Wisconsin deer, pay homage to our donors, and more.
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A groundbreaking year: In additional publication news, the school's 2021 Annual Report is now available, showcasing significant achievements in veterinary medical education, graduate training, biomedical research, clinical care, outreach and fundraising for the 2020-21 academic year.
Olympic veterinarian: Lisa Borzynski DVM’93 has dedicated her career to the wellbeing of horses. This summer, she served as a veterinary delegate at the Tokyo Olympics’ equestrian competitions. Though COVID-19 forced historical changes to the international event, Borzynski and colleagues enthusiastically cared for some of the world’s best equine athletes.
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Teaching and Learning News
An update from Peggy Schmidt, associate dean for professional programs
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The curriculum revision efforts continue to move forward. Working groups have been formed to begin to design the new clinical skills courses and professional skills courses that will span the first three years of the curriculum. These groups include faculty and staff who have worked in previous groups as well as new faces joining the revision efforts for the first time. There is also a curriculum and course design group that is incorporating feedback gathered from town halls, workshops and meetings throughout the summer months plus the SVM faculty-affirmed guiding principles to finalize an overarching curricular structure. A backward design approach is being used for the curriculum development and design process.
Backward design is a common practice in designing curriculum, courses or individual lessons. It begins with identifying the desired outcomes, which in our case is what our graduates are expected to do as entry-level veterinarians. Next, we determine how we will know our students are capable of doing those things. In other words, how will we assess students? We then think about how students will practice doing those things or what types of learning activities are needed. Finally, we need to identify what information students need to know to be able to do those things.
Much of the work in this process will be reorganizing what is in our current curriculum and implementing new strategies to promote more effective and efficient learning. We are excited to have help from the new UW-Madison Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring to assist us with the process and keep us moving forward towards our goal.
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Nigel Cook, professor of food animal production medicine, is the recipient of the 2021 American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) Award of Excellence. Cook is known for his expertise in lameness prevention, management of heat stress, cow comfort, assessment of transition cows, maintenance of milk quality and general cow wellbeing. The award was presented at the 54th annual AABP conference in October.
Congratulations to Terri Ollivett, Department of Medical Sciences, on her promotion to associate professor with tenure; Masa Suzuki, Department of Comparative Biosciences, promoted to full professor with tenure; and Michael Wood, Department of Medical Sciences, on his promotion to clinical associate professor. Congratulations also to Peter Halfmann, appointed to research associate professor, and Gabi Neumann, appointed to research professor, both in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences.
The following employees were highlighted for 10, 20 and 30 years of service to the School of Veterinary Medicine at the Nov. 17 faculty meeting. Ten years of service: Sandra Eklof and Carrie Schroeder; 20 years: Kelly Anklam, Ellison Bentley, Rachel Borchardt, Michael Huelsmeyer, Carla Ostby and Kim Lord-Plummer; and 30 years: Laurie Larson and Jonathan McAnulty. Founding dean Barney Easterday was also honored for 60 years of service with UW-Madison.
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Bogey, a 24-year-old umbrella cockatoo from the Exotic Avian Sanctuary of Tennessee, rests on the arm of Christoph Mans, a clinical associate professor of zoological medicine. Bogey underwent a novel surgery at UW Veterinary Care to treat chronic cloacal prolapse. The procedure was successful and Bogey is now thriving. Her story is one of many we share in the latest issue of On Call.
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December 10
33rd Annual SVM Craft Fair
8 a.m.-1 p.m.
School of Veterinary Medicine
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December 17
Dean’s Get Together: Cookie Decorating
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Room 2255, School of Veterinary Medicine
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May 20-22
2022 Iverson Bell Midwest Regional Diversity Summit
School of Veterinary Medicine
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Discover
WISN
Wisconsin State Farmer
AgriNews
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“If deer can transmit the virus to humans, it’s a game changer. To have a wildlife species become a reservoir after transmission from humans is very rare and unlucky, as if we needed more bad luck.”
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-Tony Goldberg, a professor of epidemiology who studies the evolution of infectious diseases as they jump between animals and people, speaking with the New York Times about recent research indicating that hundreds of white-tailed deer tested in Iowa have been infected with coronavirus and are probably contracting the virus from humans. In light of these and other findings, Goldberg is involved with stakeholders in Wisconsin and beyond about next steps. He has also spoken with multiple media outlets about the implications of deer as potential transmission reservoirs.
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